4c8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



which is so much desired lies in the im- 

 provement of individual character, with con- 

 sequent increase of individual power and 

 better adaptation to surrounding conditions." 

 The thing to tell them is to cliange the sur- 

 rounding conditions so as to remove the disad- 

 vantage. It is true that a small percentage 

 of well-developed individualities, especially 

 if they manage to get possession of some of 

 the special privileges created by law, thrive 

 very well ; but this percentage is so small as 

 to be hardly worth considering when study- 

 ing the welfare of the human race. 



You advocate the doctrine of contentment. 

 You would say that an engineer, for example, 

 obtaining for his services five thousand dol- 

 lars per annum, was thriving very well. 

 Perhaps another person, utterly regardless 

 of his natural individual power, is in posses- 

 sion of an income of one hundred thousand 

 dollars per annum, derived solely from spe- 

 cial legal privileges, without rendering any 

 service to society. The latter represents a 

 class who are parasites upon the former. 

 The question is. How much better would the 

 engineer thrive if the legal privileges support- 

 ing the parasite class were abolished? An- 

 other question suggests itself. Suppose a 

 large number of the individuals of low pro- 

 ductive power should follow your advice and 

 become, for example, competent engineers, 

 how well then would good engineers thrive ? 

 Would not competition immediately bring 

 down the incomes of engineers ? The privi- 

 leged classes would simply have better edu- 

 cated servants, and would get them for less 

 pay. 



You say : " We are far from saying that 

 there is not a vast amount of hardship in the 

 world, and much of it of a kind which in no 

 way benefits those who have to endure it, as, 

 of course, some hardship undoubtedly does. 

 But we want to see a way out that will not 

 cut the nerves of industry and make self- 

 reliance a forgotten virtue. We want to see 

 a way out that will not lessen the sense of 

 individual responsibility or make a man less 

 a man. Show us such a way, and we shall 



gladly lend every effort in our power toward 

 its realization." 



The writer is very glad indeed to feel 

 that he can give you credit for being sincere, 

 and that your attitude toward the single-tax 

 movement results from a misconception of 

 it, notwithstanding the immense amount of 

 circumstantial evidence pointing to the so- 

 called " conspiracy of silence " of the press, 

 due to its subjection to the privileged classes. 

 Believing as I do that you greatly miscon- 

 ceive the single-tax proposition, I can not 

 blame you for not offering its accredited 

 representatives a full hearing in your con- 

 servative journal. In the interest of our 

 movement and accepting your invitation, 

 "Show us such a way," etc. I offer the 

 services of myself and others in the move- 

 ment to endeavor by private and confidential 

 correspondence, or interviews if you prefer, 

 to try to remove from your mind what we 

 very plainly see are gross misapprehensions 

 of our principles and aims. As a scientist 

 you can hardly do less than give the subject 

 this much consideration. As a journalist, 

 however, we can not expect you to admit 

 anything that you regard as visionarj' quack- 

 ery. It is only in the hope that we may so 

 far remove your misconceptions that you 

 will see the propriety of admitting fair pres- 

 entations of the single-tax proposition in 

 your journal that I am writing you. 



I am aware that very many of our advo- 

 cates mix with their arguments a great deal 

 of religious dogma and superstition and crude 

 notions of " natural rights," etc. The writer, 

 however, claims to be wholly free from these 

 ideas and superstitions, and holds that they 

 are entirely superfluous in presenting the 

 single-tax proposition. I ask only for pure 

 scientific treatment. If the single-tax doc- 

 trine can not be logically deduced from the 

 accepted laws of political economy and ethics, 

 or if it can be shown that the conclusions of 

 those sciences invalidate the single-tax prop- 

 osition, the writer stands ready to abandon 

 it. Yours, etc., L. 6. Bostedo. 



Chicago, April 12, 189G. 



%iXiXi^x's %xmt. 



SUMMER HOLIDAYS. 



THE time is at hand for the an- 

 nual migration from tlie city 

 to the country or the seaside of all 

 whose means enable them to allow 

 themselves that pleasure. There is 

 doubtless something more than fash- 

 ion in the movement, for fashion is 



arbitrary and changeful, while the 

 habit we speak of has been steadily 

 growing in generality for the last 

 half century or more. If we seek for 

 the philosophy of it we may reason- 

 ably regard it as the expression of a 

 periodical craving of human beings 

 for closer contact with Nature than 



